Espaço e Estrutura: A Arquitectura Doméstica de Mies Van der Rohe

Abstract

Mies is a fascinating architect. The timeless and beauty of his creations brings me wonder what makes them so unique and special. Compelled by this urge, but not exclusively by it, lies the genesis of this thesis. The topic of this analysis arises from my previous studies that yielded the thesis "Mies:mage and Structure". As a sequel of it, now intends to focus on only five case studies, which have in common their domestic function. This time, it answers the question: how does structure influences spatial organization and conceptualization of domestic space in misean architecture? Is it or not essential in the triggering of the entire creative process. A first chapter clarifies concepts which are going to be used and provides a reflection about the architect as an inhabitant. The approach to real and imaginary selected houses is performed chronologically. The analysis focus on different examples of relationship between space and structure. Drawings - plans, sections and elevations - presented in the appendix, were essential for this assessment, as well as photographs and texts made by authors who visited Mies houses personally. Controversially, I came across with distinct and not rarely antagonistic ways of thinking and revealing the structure, as well as creating spaces. If, in the beginning, Mies with a complex program had projected houses to families which were substantiated in a constructivist and composite fashion, later on this process has been gradually simplified It is indeed remarkable the architectural evolution in Mies work towards greater clarity and transparency of structural system, along with noticeable flexibility in the domestic space. Truth as the ultimate goal identified by Mies was reached via a reinterpretation of the classic vocabulary. Tectonic architecture leads to spaces which are assertive answers to the beginning of the 20th century questions on the modern home, and those are still contemporary nowadays.